Hucknall councillor blasts county council for 'wasting' £3,000 on free tram travel consultation

Figures received by the Independent Alliance opposition group at County Hall show that the cost of the recent consultation was £3,200.

This was despite the council leader Coun Ben Bradley MP (Con) admitting that they never had a 'proposal to scrap free tram travel.

The cost of the consultation does not include staff time.

Coun Lee Waters (Ash Ind), who represents Hucknall South at County Hall, welcomed the announcement that free tram travel for concessionary pass holders was safe.

But he criticised the council for ‘scaring the disabled and elderly pass holders’ and went on to claim that ‘the whole charade was an expensive stunt designed to help Ben Bradley’s East Midlands mayoral campaign’.

Coun Waters said: “The Independent Alliance group at County Hall were against this from the moment Conservatives announced they were consulting on this.

"If Ben Bradley is being honest, maybe he could answer why the council have blown £3,200 on a consultation when it didn’t need to held at all.

"It was an expressive, poorly-executed PR exercise designed for him to come out as a knight in shining armour.”

Coun Neil Clarke (Con), cabinet member for transport and environment at the council: “Between November 2023 and January 2024, the council sought the views of residents on a range of options around concessionary travel in the future, including concessionary tram travel.”

“The estimated £3,200 cost of running the consultation includes staff time from a number of different departments including communications and marketing, and transport.

"It also includes legal costs.

“It is anticipated that a decision on the future funding of concessionary tram travel will be made by the mayor of the East Midlands Combined County Authority, which will have a £1.5bn transport budget at their disposal.

“The council therefore plans to continue with the current concessionary funding arrangements for 2024-25 and will provide the outcomes of its consultation to the new mayor once that position has been elected.

“We would like to thank everyone who had their say in the consultation, the outcomes of which have informed our plan in the short-term, and will be valuable to the elected mayor in determining tram concession policy from 2025-26 onwards.”